


Shut The Blinds

by willsolacepositivity



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Number Five | The Boy Gets A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy has Crow Brain, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Post-Canon, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Sibling Bonding, as far as I know, but it's really a catch-up on all of them, i guess, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:13:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28002222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willsolacepositivity/pseuds/willsolacepositivity
Summary: It's been over seven months since the last Apocalypse, and the family has settled back into their lives. Well, with a few minor exceptions that jump out on Christmas Eve.Partially based on a few textposts by the wonderful @the-aro-ace-arrow-ace on tumblr.
Relationships: none lmao
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Shut The Blinds

**Author's Note:**

> And this is why the out of the tunnels chapter took two weeks- I was writing almost nine pages of self-indulgent Christmas fic. TW ptsd-reminiscent flashback and passing nod to Klaus's struggles losing Ben.

It had been almost seven months since Five’s life was in danger. Seven months of relative safety, living at the family house with Klaus and Luther. Luther had a steady job and was planning to move away soon, but so far the days stretched on monotone. Wake up, spend the day on his studies, come down for lunch, more free time. The only interesting part of every passing day was which of Five’s siblings would take time out of their day to go down to the family dinner. 

Five had had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, especially considering he couldn’t exactly sign up for a college degree and a job. He wished he could say that Klaus and Luther, neither of whom had anything left and who both had to build a new life for themselves, were there for him, but they weren't, not really. Luther had just lost his life purpose, and so had thrown himself into everyday life. Klaus, meanwhile, was either off everyone’s radar for days to weeks at a time, and when he did come back, Klaus rarely left the wing of the old family estate he had marked as his own. So on the cold, crips morning of December twenty-third, Five woke up alone with nothing to do. He got dressed in one of the proper suits Allison had got him (chuckling under her breath, but at least he looked presentable), and tried to spend the morning doing something productive. Eventually, though, Five decided he just needed another cup of coffee.

When Five got down to the living room, however, he was greeted by none other than Klaus himself. It’s funny how the two of them lived in the same house, but barely saw each other, as Five was pretty sure that Klaus’s hair was longer and more matted than before, and there was no way that Allison's old skirt had a bright blue spot on the hem. Klaus’s eyes were closed, but he was nodding his head along to music coming from his headphones. 

“Klaus?”

“Uh-huh.” Five’s brother opened his eyes, and took the headphones out. 

“I mean, this is going to sound weird but…” Five gathered himself, “how have you been doing? You never really talk to any of us anymore..”

“Well, I’m here, same as always. And you don’t need to worry about that.”

“You look horrible, that’s the problem. This house is me, you, Luther, and Mom, and if we go on like this D. S. Umbrella co. is going to liquidate it. Have you ever tried getting a home in the body of a teenager?”

“So you’re worried about the house?”

“I’m worried for both of us. I mean, we know how hard losing Ben hit you.”

“Of course it was hard on me! Ben was my rock for seventeen fucking years, Five.”

“I’m sorry.”

“But thanks for checking in. And you know what I say? When there’s a fuck ton of problems in your life, tackle them one at a time. If you keep chipping away at all of them at once, life just sort of-” Klaus mimed an explosion with his hands. “Goes to shit.” He smiled almost blissfully up at Five, who had no idea how to react. It was Diego that talked him into approaching his brother in the first place, and forty years of isolation didn’t do much for Five’s people skills, so he just sort of nodded along to what Klaus was saying. One thing hadn’t changed- Klaus was the crazy brother. 

Five walked into the kitchen, and found Grace whisking something together, humming to herself. 

“Hey, Mom. Any spare coffee?”

“No, we just ran out. Someone’s been drinking it all up. Go see if that donut shop has some, will you? Five just nodded, put on his coat, and stepped out. 

The streets were lined with seasonal glitter, which cheered Five up a little bit and slowly, breathing the fresh air in, Five made his way to Griddy’s Donuts. 

It was amazing that Five didn’t find somewhere else to get his caffeine fix, considering everything that had happened there, but Five had a history with Griddy’s, and mostly just went there out of nostalgia these days. Still, one thing he didn’t expect to see was Allison and Vanya, sitting at the counter, both bent over some papers and deep in discussion. Vanya looked up, and noticed him.

“Five!”

“Hey Vanya.” Allison looked up next. Since Five had seen her two weeks ago, Allison had gotten a haircut, and she also looked a lot more tired than normal.

“Hey Fivey.” She waved.

“Allison, how’s the move going?”

“Great, thanks for asking. We’re a few miles out of town now, so Claire will finally get to meet her uncles.”

“Not  _ aunt _ and uncles- Vanya, you’ve been helping?”

“Oh, you know- here and there.”

“Huh.” Five had to smile. “You know what? Klaus is being weird again, and I could really use feeling civilian.” He hopped onto the stool next to Vanya and dinged the bell. “Hey! The boy wants a coffee.” He waited for Agnes’s successor to register his comment and smile to herself at the inside joke she didn’t quite get but was mandated to find funny. 

“You know? You’ve really loosened up since we saved the world. Whatever happened to our personal pint-size maniac?”

“Call me that again, and I will murder you.” Five spat out through gritted teeth. Allison and Vanya glanced at each other, then laughed.

“I called it.” Vanya said, setting her hot chocolate down. “First death threat in under thirty seconds! Five, treat yourself- it’s all on Allison.”

“Did you seriously bet on me? I could have had something important to say! Respect your elders, you two.” Five noticed something sticking out of Allison’s handbag. “What’s that?”

“Oh, nothing.” Allison said, a little too quickly. 

“Really?”

“It’s literally just house ownership things.”

“Don’t you have an agent to do that?”

“They’re mine.” Vanya quickly cut in. Five was about to say something, but he got distracted- There was a roach crawling up the lag of Vanya’s chair. In the blink of an eye, he jumped down, snatched it up, and with a single, practiced motion crushed the exoskeleton, stopped its heart, and dismembered the thing. Five popped it in his mouth, and swallowed the morsel with a satisfying gulp. Only when he saw the shocked faces of Allison and Vanya did Five realise what he had done. 

“Five! Did you just- just- ugh!” Allison exclaimed, sticking her tongue out just like she did when she was twelve. Vanya, meanwhile, looked like she was trying not to throw up. 

“Sorry, just an old Apocalypse habit.”

“I suppose ‘old Apocalypse habit’ is right.” Vanya choked out.

“Old habits die hard.” Five received his coffee, and all three of them finished their food and drinks. As nice as it was catching up with both of his sisters, Five got the feeling that they were planning something, but he wasn’t in the mood to mess around with them today. Luther had wanted a second opinion on his latest research paper, and Five was still worrying about the future of the family estate, and what it would mean for him. Five certainly wasn’t about to indefinitely crash at Allison or Diego’s place until his body was old enough to do some menial, low-paying job.

“Stupid fucking body.” Five muttered into his coffee. 

“What?” Allison turned around. 

“Nothing.” All of a sudden, Five wasn’t in any mood to be around people, so he slid off of his chair and half-jogged, half-walked out into the cold air. 

It wasn’t dark outside yet, but the sky was beginning to darken in its tone of grey, and the streetlights were already on, their warm orange glow doing as much to illuminate the street as the sun. Five liked winter, but he didn’t appreciate being outside. It reminded him too much of the Apocalypse, so Five preferred to stay indoors when he could. Of course, any place that knew who he was had its own set of unpleasant memories attached, but it was better than looking up at the sky and remembering what it was like, knowing that he was the only person in the world. 

Five still remembered that very first day, and, without realizing what he was doing, began making his way back to the spot where it all began. He looked at the sky, seeing the full moon out. Over the years, it had been the spot of Dad’s strangest research, Luther’s home and then obsession, the reason for the Apocalypse. Now, it was shining as bright as ever.

A flake of something landed onto Five’s hand. He looked down at it, and saw the same white-grey ash on the canter of his palm. Logically, Five knew that it was snow, but his eyes saw ash, slowly spiraling down. 

Five looked down, and saw that while he was standing there, every car and building was half-covered with a thin layer of white, the same way it had been forty years ago now. The orange streetlights reflected off of it, so everything looked covered in ash and fire. 

_ Ash and fire, fire and ash. Everything was gone, dead, and it was just Five, alone.  _

The light flickered, and the snow kept on falling. 

_ Five had run, trying to search for any sign of life.  _

Now he had no strength to even run. Five sank slowly to his knees, and curled up on the ground. Was the silence a product of Five’s mind this time? Either way, it was deafening, and he curled up tighter on the ground. The snow was starting to fall on Five and seep through his school uniform. 

_ The first day, Five had woken up covered completely in ash. It had almost felt like a blanket, and for a moment Five didn’t remember what had happened. It had all come back in a second. The argument, the Apocalypse,  _

The Commission, the second Apocalypse, the Sixties, the Sparrow Academy. All that was behind Five, but the Apocalypse wasn’t. If Five opened his eyes again, he would see that first day played out, but it was vibrant enough inside his head. Over and over, he kept seeing the dead, still faces of his family. 

“Five!” He jerked up, and felt the ash, no snow, fall off his shoulders. Diego was trying to hold Five up. He was dressed in his usual black with that stupid knife belt, and he looked like he had just put it ot use. “Five! You’re just curled up on the ground, barely breathing.”

“I- remembered something.”

“Is it Commission?” Diego’s tone grew a bit softer. “You know, I can help you with Commission stuff.”

“No. Think back a bit further.”

“The first Apocalypse.”

“Just like Day One.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened, but you need to get the fuck up off the ground. I’m worried about you, Five.”

“Last time I checked, you were worried about Klaus.” Five sneered. He didn’t much feel like making that remark, but it was the best way to save face right now.

“Yeah, because both of you are going to shit right now. Come on, you need a place to stay overnight and the family place is too far away.”

“What are you implying?”

“You’re staying with me tonight.”

“I don’t need your parenting!” Five fumed. 

“No, you don’t, but you need a change of clothes.”

“ _I_ am not wearing spandex!”

“I don’t even  _ own  _ spandex!” Bickering, Diego half-led, half-dragged Five all the way to the boiler room, until finally the two of them were standing all the way at Diego’s door.

“You’d think that after saving the world, you’d finally find something better to do than camp out in a boiler room, mop floors, and run around with knives but no.” Five rolled his eyes, and moved to open the door. It didn’t budge. Five jiggled the doorknob harder, but it didn’t give in. 

“It’s locked.” Barely holding in his laughter, Diego pulled out a key and moved to open the door.

“Mention this to anyone and I will personally murder you.”

“Sure, sure.” The door swung open, and Five saw Diego’s living quarters for the first time while he was sober. He still remembered last time, Diego and Luther’s fight. So much had changed since then, but the decor evidently hadn’t. Same posters on the walls, same newspaper clippings of Diego the vigilante and old Prime-8s albums. 

“Wait, is that the cross-stitch Mom made a while ago?” Five asked, gesturing at what he recognised at Mom’s first-quest gift to Diego, framed on the wall. 

“Happy memories.” Diego said, and pointed toward the bed. “You need to rest.”

“You’re thirty and still sleep on that?”

“Well, you’re fifty and still live at Daddy’s house.”

“Dad’s been dead for months here, Diego. Legally, it’s Klaus’s house.” Diego had already been amused, but he burst out laughing at that news.

“Wait seriously?” He managed, blinking tears out of his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Klaus owns a mansion! And you’re crashing in it. Thank you so much for this information,” Diego chuckled, “this is the best news I’ve heard in a while. You like coffee, right? I’ll make you coffee.” Diego hurried off to the other side of the room, where he had erected what looked like a makeshift kitchen area. Five now severely regretted the fact that he had told Diego that he was, in his brother’s words, “crashing at Klaus’s place”, but at least he got coffee out of it. 

Finally, Diego got back with the coffee. It wasn’t too bad to be honest, but for once in his life Five didn’t feel like gulping the whole cup down in thirty seconds. Diego hurried off for work, but didn’t make it clear if he would be mopping floors or throwing knives, so Five pulled up the covers of Diego’s unmade bed and eventually drifted off to sleep. And maybe it was the flashback he had had on the street during the snow, but for once in his life Five didn’t get nightmares. 

He woke up annoyed. Maybe it was the fact that Diego was across the room, dressed in his usual getup at what the alarm clock confirmed was six in the morning, very noisily cooking while wearing headphones and dancing to the beat like someone was holding him at gunpoint.

“Diego!” No reaction. “Diego! Die-go!” Evidently, Five’s brother had his headphones turned up high. Sighing, Five got up, briefly inspected his state of disarray, complete with crumpled-up clothes and plastered hair, and ran over to Diego. 

“Hey asshole!” Being considerably closer, Diego noticed Five this time, and took out one headphone.

To the background of punk music set at a volume that could give Five hearing problems, he answered “So no thank you?”

“For what?”

“For letting you crash?”

“For  _ making  _ me crash. And could I get a cup of coffee? And some clothes- I can’t go out like this.”

“You’re in luck I’m so nice, I even prepared something for you.” Without missing a beat, Diego tossed something to Five. He inspected it- a woolly grey sweater and plain blue jeans. Five searched them all over for weird strappy bits or metal spikes, but found nothing.

“So you do have normal clothes, you just choose to dress like a menace to society.”

“Shut up.” Five rolled his eyes, but he did need the clothes, so over the next few minutes he splashed some water on his face, changed, and tried to make his hair look presentable with the slim pickings Diego’s boiler room dwelling had to offer. 

Finally, Five had stuffed his uniform in a plastic bag, and got ready to jump back. “Bye asshole!” he called out, and Five was gone. 

Five opened his eyes at Ben’s grave. It was a bit of an odd place, considering that Five hadn’t been there at either of Ben’s deaths and Ben had existed as a ghost for longer than he had been alive, but it was all Five had left of him.

“Hey, dude. I say this every time, but how are you doing? Klaus told me there’s an afterlife, hope you’re doing fine.” Five crouched down. “Luther’s newest paper is doing okay. DIego’s same as always, so is Allison. Vanya’s a violin soloist now. Klaus says he’s getting better, but no one ever sees him. We might lose the house, so that’s fun. Can you hear me? Probably not.” Five took a deep breath. “I don’t know why I never said this, but you know, I always felt guilty for the way you died. Maybe if I hadn’t left, you’d still be here with us. It took seven months to get that out, huh? Oh well.” Five started to turn around, but he doubled back. 

“You know what? I’m sorry. And I love you.” Five turned back to the house, and walked up to the gates. 

Too late, Five realized that his keys to the house were somewhere in Diego’s boiler room, so he just blinked into the living room. 

Luther was seated on the couch, typing something up on a computer. When Five walked in he looked up. 

“Hey Five. Wait, is that Diego’s favorite sweater?”

“I… don’t think so?” Five said. 

“And are you holding one of Diego’s mugs?”

“Maybe.”

“You weren’t here last night. Five, why did you spend the night in Diego’s boiler room?” Luther asked suspiciously. Five wanted to just go up to his room, but Klaus’s words yesterday morning came to mind.  _ When there’s a fuckton of problems in your life, tackle them one at a time.  _ And right now, the most immediate problem was Luther’s concern. 

“It’s nothing. I just- needed a change of scenery.” Five hadn’t had to lie to his family a lot. The Commission? Sure. The world at large? Almost every day. But Five’s lie to Luther was so bad, he was almost surprised that it went unnoticed. 

“Well, I get needing a change from all this. I mean, when I was on the moon-”  _ Oh, here we go again,  _ Five thought “-I got sick of seeing and doing the same thing every day. Just routine, routine, routine and wait for Dad’s phone calls.” Well, this was something new. Luther’s little moon spiels never extended into detail, and he certainly hadn’t mentioned feeling trapped or lonely. “We’ve been through a lot of the same stuff, come to think of it. Trapped somewhere without contact, and the whole wrong-body thing.”

Luther was right, Five thought. “Yeah. I mean, at least you were only on the moon for five years, but I can’t imagine getting the news about both on the same day.”

“Nah, you definitely have it worse.” Luther shook his head.

“It just…” Five made a vague hand gesture, “I wish I could put it all behind me, but most of my life was waiting alone in the Apocalypse, and it’s the only way I know how to live. Like I-”

“Lost your life purpose.” Luther nodded. “But not in a bad way?”

“Exactly.”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” After a few awkward seconds, Five made his way up his room, and sighed as he closed the door. “Shut the blinds, shut the blinds.” Five murmured as he made sure no sign of snow showed through his bedroom window. After, Five blinked toward the closet to change, but reconsidered as he looked on the rows of Academy uniforms and plain black suits; Five had shot up in height the past few months so Diego’s clothes were only a little baggy on him, and whenever Five’s brother wasn’t dressed like a c-list Batman he might actually have taste. Besides, the sweater was  _ cashmere.  _

All throughout the day, Five heard various noises downstairs, and once even some sort of flashing light. It only bothered Five a little, but he did find himself vaguely wondering where the noises were coming from. Were they Commission goons? The new management sent a few over every month, but most of the siblings could deal with them one hand tied behind their backs. Even Grace’s programming had been adjusted to help out in a fight, so Five didn’t particularly care what was going on. 

When the clock hit six, Five blinked down to the kitchen, only to see it in complete disarray. The first thing Five noticed was the presence of Allison, Vanya, Luther, and Claire in the kitchen, talking and laughing among themselves. 

“And now I have three months of studying the way mosquitoes transmit- oh, hey Five! You’re, um, here early.” Luther said. At that moment, Diego ducked his head into view of the kitchen. 

“I  _ never _ signed up for any of- Five?”

“What’s everyone going on about? Dinner’s usually at six. And why are all of you people here?” Five sniffed the air. “Is that hot chocolate?”

“No, I’m just surprised you’re still wearing those clothes I gave you.” Diego said. “I mean, that  _ was  _ my best sweater, but as long as you’re not in one of those dumb suits.”

“Whatever.” Five blinked out of sight, and reappeared in the living room. 

“Oh! I-” Five stumbled over his words, not believing what he was seeing. In almost four hours, Five’s siblings had erected a massive, lavishly decked out Christmas tree that glittered in the light of the fairy light-adorned railings. 

Five didn’t like to admit it, but he loved shiny things. Sequins, glitter, little lights all of it, and that’s exactly what the room was now decked out in. While Five was up in his room trying to work out new time-travel algorithms, the rest of the family was turning the house into a holiday wonderland, and it was the most beautiful thing Five had ever seen.

` “Woah.” Five pulled himself away from the Christmas display to turn back towards his siblings, Claire, and Grace. “How long did all that take you?”

“Four hours, give or take?” Vanya said. 

In the background, Allison glared at Diego, as if daring him to complain about it, but he just said “The tree was a mess to put up.” 

Grace stepped in. “I think we should do something fun! Let’s just take the food and eat it in the living room. Would you like that, children?” There were a few moments of awkward silence, and everyone started nodding between themselves. 

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

“I think we could do that.”

“Uh- that could be nice.” Five almost jumped with surprise- but he managed to contain himself as he turned around. 

“Klaus?” Klaus was, in fact there, and had evidently cleaned himself up a little bit. He’d also put on his idea of better clothes, although Five didn’t much see how a pinstriped blazer, a black skirt with haphazardly sewn-on red sequins, and some weird flowery sweater were considered festive. 

“I’m here, little brother!” Klaus spread his arms out. 

“You brushed your hair.” Five said. “And did that stupid eye makeup thing. Great way to ruin the effect.” Five was acutely aware of the fact that the rest of his siblings were in the kitchen, heaping whatever it was Grace had made onto their plates behind their backs.

“Well, I decided to put in the effort today. Get cleaned up a little. I mean, you’re right- I can’t keep moping about the place.” Klaus smiled apologetically. “I haven’t really been there a lot of the time, you know?”

“Yeah well, neither have I.”

“Well, you’ve got an excuse.” And then Klaus hugged Five. It wasn’t a gesture either of them really expected, and Five’s first instinct was to blink away, but he eased into it. Klaus was still taller than him and still smelled a little bit of smoke, and the whole thing was a little awkward, but Five found himself returning the gesture, and the two of them stood like that for a bit, neither saying a word but smiling. 

After maybe ten seconds, they pulled apart. “Well, you have to love that.” Five 

heard, and turned around to find Luther, Diego, Allison, and Vanya all standing in the doorway of the kitchen with their food. 

Five shrugged, but Vanya laughed and said. “Come on, we all need a hug today.” Klaus pushed Five forward, Diego offered to set Vanya’s food on the counter, and Claire ran up to cling to Allison’s leg. All things considered, it was pretty much the best Hargreeves family group hug ever. 


End file.
